Journey of Hope visits Lubbock State Supported Living Center

Monday

Jul 8, 2013 at 8:56 PM

PRESTON WICKERSHAM

While most college students are spending the summer relaxing in the sun and catching up with old friends, some members of the Pi Kappa Phi national fraternity are making new friends in unexpected places.

Push America, Pi Kappa Phi's philanthropic organization, hosts the Journey of Hope every summer to raise money and awareness for people living with disabilities in the United States. Journey of Hope is a 4,000-mile bike ride through 49 cities, and if you ask any of the people who feel the support of the riders, it's much more than a leisure trip.

Sandra Anderson, director of community relations at Lubbock State Supported Living Center, said the Journey of Hope does great things for the residents of the 225-person community.

"They look forward to them coming and they have a great time with them, and it gives our folks a whole different perspective," she said during the group's friendship visit on Monday.

"They get to see some more real-life things and get to make new friends. They're just like you and me; they want to make friends."

Lubbock State Supported Living Center serves people with a variety of mental and physical disabilities in Lubbock County and the surrounding areas, providing housing for those who need it and different types of care and support. The Center is one of 40 locations where the Journey of Hope riders will stop this summer to meet and talk to community members with varying disabilities.

"That's a very unique part of Push America is we work with all disabilities, anything cognitive, physical," said Robby Smith, crew chief on the southern route of Journey of Hope and a senior at University of Southern Mississippi. "It may be something that they're born with or something that happened in an accident."

The Journey of Hope crew granted a donation to the Lubbock State Supported Living Center this year to upgrade some sound equipment in its facilities that had been in use since the 1960s. This summer, the ride raised more than $500,000 for people across the country who have disabilities.

"That money goes directly back to organizations that we see over the summer, and we grant that money while we're there," he added.

Some riders on Journey of Hope - such as Matt Varnell, the only native Texan on the trip - feel right at home on the southern route, but others, such as Andrew Crispin, are in uncharted territory.

"It's the first time I've ever been in Texas. I've really loved it," said Crispin, a Massachusetts native who attends the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. "Everyone's really friendly. We always get questions about what we're up to. … It's really refreshing being able to tell people what we're all about."

Anderson said the residents at LSSLC eagerly anticipate the Journey of Hope's arrival in Lubbock every summer.

"This is their 26th year, and they've been coming since it was Lubbock State School," she said. "I love seeing the college students do something productive. These guys work hard, they work hard to raise the money and they ride about 75 miles a day on a bicycle.

"They're just a really bright spot with the individuals. They love it and we love having them come here. Nice young men," she said.

James Pike, one resident at the center, said he had fun on the group's visit. He and other residents of the center had dinner with the Journey of Hope riders on Sunday night and spent Monday afternoon swimming and playing games in the indoor pool.

"It's been awesome to get to know a couple people," said Crispin. "Last night we had dinner, it was really nice to sit down and actually talk to them. They were all really excited about the swim day today. It was really nice to make that connection. … We always talk about that Journey of Hope moment, that moment that defines the entire journey, and for a lot of people it's always been the friendship visits."

Pi Kappa Phi has a local chapter at Texas Tech, and while none of the riders in the group this year were Tech students, Anderson said the Lubbock members serve as volunteers at the center during the school year.

"We also have relations with the local fraternity here at Texas Tech," she said. "They, of course, are all out of school for the summer, so we don't see them much here, but they do come out and volunteer here from the local fraternity."

The Journey riders never stay in one place long so they can spread the impact of their visits and donations cover as great an area as possible. After Lubbock, the group will move across Texas to Muleshoe, Abilene, Fort Worth and other cities before leaving the state and eventually ending up in Washington, D.C.

Anderson said she is always happy to see the Push America group come into town because of how much it means to the members of LSSLC.

"I just can't say enough about them," she said. "They're good guys, and they're really good with the individuals. Sometimes working with somebody with disabilities, or even meeting them for the first time, it is kind of scary sometimes depending on their disposition, but they are great with them."

Smith said there's a quotation the riders like to use emphasizes the importance of the social work they do in the communities they visit over the physical demands of riding a bike.

"We like to say it's the work that we do off the bike, not on the bike," said Smith. "We can push ourselves really hard on the bike every day, but in the end it's what we do off the bike and the excitement and the events that happen in the cities that really make the Journey of Hope what it is."

preston.wickersham@lubbockonline.com

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